Cameroon, the defending champion, has been eliminated from the biennial CAF international youth football competition for players aged 17 and below.
The 14th edition of the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, held in Algeria, is the first with twelve teams instead of eight, and the top four teams will qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup as CAF representatives.
The competition began on April 29, 2023, and ended on Sunday, May 7, 2023, with the final match of the group stage. The competition saw eight teams advance to the quarterfinals.
On Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the quarterfinal pairings will kick off in Algiers, where Senegal will play against their South African opponents.
Serigne Saliou Dia’s team was the best scoring team as well as the best defensive team in the group stage of the competition. Senegal scored seven goals in three group-stage games and did not concede while facing South Africa, which is the second-best third-placed team after one win and two losses.
Nigeria, the two-time CAF U-17 Cup of Nations champion, will face one-time champion Burkina Faso in the second quarterfinal game on May 11, 2023, in Algiers.
Nigeria, the second-placed team in Group B of the competition, won two matches and lost one; they scored four goals and conceded three as they faced Burkina Faso of Group C, which was the second-placed team in the group since South Sudan was disqualified from the competition.
Algeria will face North African opponents Morocco in Constantine on May 10, 2023, following the match between Senegal and South Africa at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.
Morocco finished first in Group B, winning two games and drawing one, scoring four goals and conceding two, and will face the second-placed team in Group A in the quarterfinals. Algeria, which has won one game, drawn one, and lost one, will play its first game in the competition at Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium.
Mali will play Congo at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba. Mali, the two-time champion of the competition, was the top team in Group C, and Congo was the best of the third-placed teams in the competition.
